$100-Million Tunnel Will Take 2 1/2 Years to Build

Metrorail is not the only tunnel coming up in Los Angeles’ future.

There’s also NORS--the North Outfall Replacement Sewer. This $100-million, 12-foot-wide pipe will run 60 to 80 feet underground--which is equivalent to a six-story building-- for about 10 miles.

NORS will start in the general area west of the intersection of La Cienega Boulevard and Rodeo Road and slope down to the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant in Playa del Rey.

Unlike Metrorail, except for two shafts, most of the NORS digging will be underground, according to Brian Griffith, division engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Public Works.

Design plans are scheduled to be completed in July. Construction is expected to begin in 1989 and will take about 2 1/2 years.

NORS will replace another sewer, built in the 1920s, that has deteriorated but which will be kept as a backup.

As soon as the exact route is determined, the department of public works real estate department will be visiting about 170 property owners regarding easement rights.

Griffith said that Los Angeles has some 50 miles of deep tunnel sewers similar to NORS. The oldest sewer still in use was built around 1910 and extends from the Crenshaw area to the Hyperion Plant.

“Years back when flows were lower, inspection crews would go in a boat down the North Outfall Sewer, the one that NORS is replacing,” Griffith said.

Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall, Los Angeles, will design NORS. Rodney P. Lundin will head the firm’s engineering team.